Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.42.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ES. Scotiabank lowered shares of Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Eversource Energy stock opened at $57.64 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.71, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.62. Eversource Energy has a 12 month low of $52.71 and a 12 month high of $69.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. Eversource Energy had a negative net margin of 4.73% and a positive return on equity of 10.90%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Eversource Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a $0.7525 dividend. This is an increase from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -191.72%.

Institutional Trading of Eversource Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ES. Verity & Verity LLC bought a new stake in Eversource Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $744,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Eversource Energy by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,735,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,554,000 after acquiring an additional 510,582 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its stake in Eversource Energy by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 31,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,151,000 after purchasing an additional 10,093 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eversource Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,616,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Eversource Energy by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 73,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,967 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas.